12 Best Animated Movies for Adults That Are Actually Worth Watching
If someone says they do not watch animated movies because they are “for kids,” you have an excellent movie night ahead of you. This ranking gives you twelve films that use animation to tell stories about memory, war, identity, grief, loneliness and the complicated business of being an adult. Some are funny. Some are beautiful. A few are difficult to watch—and all are worth discussing afterward.
“Animated movies for adults” does not mean every title is sexually explicit or unsuitable for all younger viewers. It means the film’s ideas, perspective or emotional complexity are especially rewarding to an adult audience. Fantastic Mr. Fox can be enjoyed by a family while saying a great deal about midlife restlessness. Waltz with Bashir, by contrast, confronts war and trauma and is not a casual family-night pick. Those are different viewing experiences, and treating them as interchangeable would not help you choose.
There is another distinction worth making. Animation is a medium, not a genre. The films below include hand-drawn autobiography, stop-motion drama, animated documentary, fantasy and a tiny shell whose story combines stop-motion with live-action footage. That last title, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, belongs here because the animated character and techniques are central to the movie, even though it is a hybrid rather than an entirely animated feature.
We have ranked the twelve films for the strength of the movie, the purpose of its animation and how much it gives an adult viewer to think or feel. The No. 1 choice is not the easiest watch. It is the one we believe uses the medium most powerfully to tell a story that would lose something essential in another form.
Content notes matter here. Several entries address war, displacement, death or trauma. We will flag those themes without spoiling major developments. Streaming availability also changes, particularly for international and independent films, so use the official film links and check a current UK listing before renting or subscribing.
Ready to see what animation can do when it is allowed to grow up with its audience? Let’s get into it 👇
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If you love this, check out: Shrek Review: A Witty and Heartwarming Animated Classic—a reminder that even a broad family comedy can have plenty to say to adults.
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12. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022)
A one-inch-tall shell lives with his grandmother and their pet lint. That premise sounds designed for a charming short film, and Marcel did begin in that world. The feature-length Marcel the Shell with Shoes On finds something more surprising in his small existence: a story about community, loss and the courage it takes to keep looking for the people you miss.
A24’s official synopsis explains that Marcel and his grandmother Connie were once part of a much larger shell community. A filmmaker’s video brings Marcel sudden public attention and the possibility of finding his missing family. Jenny Slate’s voice performance gives Marcel a delicate combination of curiosity, humour and vulnerability, while Isabella Rossellini makes Connie a presence with her own history and concerns.
This is the hybrid entry on our list. Animated and stop-motion elements share the film with live-action footage, and the mock-documentary approach makes Marcel’s tiny scale feel wonderfully tangible. The ordinary household objects around him become an enormous world.
It takes No. 12 because its gentle style and family-friendly surface make it less obviously an “adult animated movie” than the films above it. Yet adulthood is exactly why its reflections on family and impermanence land so strongly. Watch it when you want something kind, funny and a little more emotional than its trailer may lead you to expect.
Best for: A tender, inventive film about family and finding your place.
Content note: Themes of loss and loneliness.
Where to watch: See A24’s official film page and check current UK rental or streaming availability.
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11. Loving Vincent (2017)
There are animated films you admire for how they look, then films whose visual method is inseparable from the reason they exist. Loving Vincent belongs in the second group. Its painted images create a moving world associated with Vincent van Gogh while a story about his final days unfolds.
The film follows an investigation through the people and places connected to the artist. That mystery structure provides a route into the material, though the deeper fascination lies in the gap between a person’s life and the stories others tell after his death. Art can make someone famous while leaving the ordinary human being harder to understand.
The painterly technique is extraordinary. It encourages you to look at every frame as an interpretation rather than a transparent window. That is a strength, but it also explains our placement: the visual achievement may stay with you more forcefully than the characters or the narrative investigation. An adult viewer interested in art and biography will likely find far more here than somebody simply seeking a brisk mystery.
I would not call Loving Vincent a conventional comfort watch. It is closer to entering a moving gallery and discovering a question at its centre. Watch it when you have the attention to meet the film on those terms. Few animated movies make such a persuasive argument that style can be a form of inquiry.
Best for: Art lovers and viewers drawn to visually experimental biographical films.
Content note: Themes of mental health and death.
Where to watch: Check a current UK legal TV guide or digital retailer for streaming and rental options.
10. The Boy and the Heron (2023)
After the death of his mother, Mahito moves to a new home and encounters a heron that leads him toward an uncanny world. Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron begins in grief and moves into fantasy without explaining away the difficult feelings that brought its young protagonist there.
The film’s imagination is enormous. Creatures and spaces seem to operate by a logic that Mahito must feel his way through rather than solve like a puzzle. That can make the viewing experience exhilarating or disorienting, depending on how much you enjoy a story that resists immediate explanation. Adults may recognise the emotional shape even when the details remain strange: a child trying to understand loss, change and the life that continues afterward.
Its beauty is not merely decorative. The fantastical world gives Mahito a way to confront questions he cannot yet put into ordinary words. This is animation doing something especially valuable: making an internal journey visible without reducing it to a neat lesson.
Why No. 10? It is richly rewarding, but I would not call it the most accessible starting point for somebody new to adult-oriented animation. Its pace and symbols ask for patience. Give it that patience, and it can become a film you continue thinking about long after you have stopped trying to make every image fit a single explanation.
Best for: Viewers who enjoy Miyazaki’s visual imagination and reflective fantasy.
Content note: Bereavement, danger and unsettling imagery.
Where to watch: Check a current UK listing. A Netflix UK page for the film currently says it is not available to watch in the country, so do not subscribe on the assumption it is there.
9. Flee (2021)
Flee uses animation to tell a real person’s story while helping protect the identity of the man at its centre. Amin recounts his journey from Afghanistan and the memories, fears and decisions that have shaped the life he is building as an adult.
The film is part documentary, part deeply personal conversation. Its animated form is not a way to soften displacement or make it easier to consume. It can represent events that could not have been filmed and allow memory to move between what is recalled, feared and finally spoken aloud. The intimacy of the storytelling is what gives the visual approach its purpose.
Adult viewers may find themselves most affected by the space between the past and Amin’s present. A person can be safe in one sense and still carry an enormous private history. The film also understands that telling a story about survival is not the same as reducing a life to suffering. Identity, love and the possibility of a future matter alongside the journey that brought him here.
We rank Flee ninth only because this particular countdown considers how readily we might recommend a film for a general movie night as well as its artistic power. Its subject makes it a more demanding choice than several entries above it. That demand is worth accepting. Come prepared to listen closely.
Best for: Documentary viewers seeking an intimate story about displacement and identity.
Content note: War, forced migration, trauma and persecution.
Where to watch: Check a current UK legal streaming or rental listing; availability changes by territory.
You’ll also love: 10 Feel-Good Movies with Family-First Messages—a different viewing mood, but another way to consider what family and belonging mean on screen.
8. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Mr. Fox has a family, a home and a life that should satisfy him. He also cannot quite give up the part of himself that loves a clever, dangerous plan. That tension makes Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox much more than a charming adaptation of Roald Dahl.
The stop-motion world is exquisitely particular: every landscape, outfit and expression contributes to a comic reality that feels handmade and carefully arranged. George Clooney’s Mr. Fox can make selfishness sound like a professional calling. Meryl Streep’s Mrs. Fox has far more reason to worry about the consequences than he wants to admit. Their children and neighbours give the film further ways to explore what one person’s need for excitement costs everybody else.
It is funny in the dry, exacting way you may expect from Anderson. Characters can speak calmly while circumstances become absurd. A visual detail may do as much work as a line of dialogue. Yet the film’s appeal for adults is its interest in midlife identity: what happens when the person you were still makes demands on the person your family needs you to be?
The film takes No. 8 because it is highly rewatchable and perhaps the easiest entry here to enjoy with a wider family, though its adult themes are quieter than those of the top seven. Come for the foxes and their heists; stay for the uncomfortable recognition beneath them.
Best for: Witty stop-motion comedy with a midlife identity crisis under its fur.
Content note: Some peril and family conflict.
Where to watch: Check current UK streaming and digital-rental listings for the film.
7. Isle of Dogs (2018)
Wes Anderson’s second stop-motion feature on this list has a sharper political premise. Dogs have been banished to an island of rubbish, and a boy arrives searching for his beloved pet. The canine group he encounters gives the film its comic ensemble and much of its emotional pull.
The stop-motion craft makes every object seem touchable, from the island’s debris to the dogs’ worn fur. Its formal precision can create a wonderful contrast with the messiness of the animals’ lives. Their conversations and shifting loyalties give the search energy beyond a simple rescue mission.
For adult viewers, the film also asks how fear can be used to justify exclusion. Those concerns sit beneath an adventure that remains funny and visually inventive. At the same time, some viewers have raised questions about the film’s treatment of its Japanese setting and perspective. That is worth considering as part of an honest recommendation, not waving away because the craft is impressive.
I rank it seventh because the visual world and group dynamics are remarkable, even if I find the emotional connection slightly less direct than in the films above. If you enjoy Anderson’s meticulously arranged frames and stories about loyalty, it is an excellent watch. If you want the warmer of his two animated films, begin with Fantastic Mr. Fox instead.
Best for: Stop-motion fans who enjoy a rescue story with political satire.
Content note: Animal peril, authoritarianism and some unsettling imagery.
Where to watch: Check a current UK legal TV guide or digital retailer.
6. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)
A new Pinocchio film had every reason to feel unnecessary. Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion version justifies itself by asking a different question from many familiar tellings: why should a child’s value depend on how well he obeys?
Geppetto creates Pinocchio in the shadow of grief, and the boy enters a world where adult love, control and political authority are uneasily tangled. The historical setting gives the story a darker edge. Pinocchio’s lively disobedience can be funny; it can also be dangerous when people insist that a life must fit the role they have chosen for it.
The stop-motion work is essential. The physicality of the puppet makes creation and vulnerability feel present in every scene. He is visibly made, yet his personality exceeds the intentions of those who made him. That is the film’s moving contradiction.
This is not the bright, low-stakes choice for very young viewers. Adults, however, may find its treatment of grief, parenthood and mortality more affecting than they expect from a familiar fairy tale. It ranks sixth for its artistic conviction and its willingness to complicate a story many of us thought we knew. It may leave you discussing what it means to love someone without demanding that they become a copy of your hopes.
Best for: Darker fairy tales, stop-motion craftsmanship and thoughtful parent-child stories.
Content note: Fascism, death and parental grief.
Where to watch: Check Netflix UK for the current film listing.
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You’ll also love: 13 Family-Friendly Netflix Picks for Fall, which includes a very different kind of recommendation for del Toro’s film.
5. The Breadwinner (2017)
Parvana is a young girl living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan. When her father is arrested, she disguises herself as a boy so that she can work and help her family survive. The Breadwinner makes that urgent premise the centre of an animated film whose courage lies in the attention it gives to ordinary acts.
The animation has more than one purpose. It depicts Parvana’s dangerous daily world, and it also allows storytelling within the story to take on a distinct visual life. Imagination becomes a resource, not an escape that erases the realities around her. That balance keeps the film from treating hardship as a backdrop for an easy inspirational lesson.
Parvana’s family relationships make the stakes personal. She is not an abstract symbol of bravery; she is a child trying to do what her household needs in circumstances no child should have to manage. The film’s restraint is part of its power. It trusts viewers to understand what is at risk without making every scene louder than the last.
It reaches No. 5 because it is both beautifully made and extraordinarily purposeful about why this story is animated. This is a film adults should seek out not because animation makes a difficult subject “easier,” but because it can bring interior resilience and spoken stories onto the screen alongside danger. Approach it with care, and give yourself time afterward.
Best for: Viewers seeking a moving, serious story about family and courage.
Content note: Taliban rule, gender oppression, imprisonment and threats to a child.
Where to watch: Check a current UK legal streaming or rental listing for the film.
4. Mary and Max (2009)
An unlikely friendship develops through letters between Mary, a lonely Australian girl, and Max, an isolated man living in New York. Mary and Max is funny, sad and startlingly specific about the ways two people can make room for one another across distance.
The stop-motion design has a deliberately muted, tactile quality. It does not try to make loneliness pretty, but it lets small objects, letters and habits become meaningful. The characters’ correspondence gives the film a rhythm of disclosure: each reveals something in writing that might be impossible to say in a room with another person.
Its humour is dark and often unexpectedly gentle. Max and Mary do not always understand each other, and neither is turned into a perfect source of wisdom for the other. Their differences are part of the friendship. The film is interested in connection that does not magically remove difficulty.
We rank it fourth because it stays with you in a way few animated features do. Its themes are heavy, and some scenes may be painful for viewers sensitive to isolation, mental health or loss. But the relationship at its centre offers more than a simple message about being kind. It asks what it takes to keep writing back when life does not become easier.
If you want to make the case that animation can tell intimate adult stories without spectacle, put this film on. Then perhaps send a message to someone you miss.
Best for: A poignant, darkly funny story about unlikely friendship.
Content note: Loneliness, mental health difficulties and death.
Where to watch: Check a current UK legal TV guide or digital retailer; rights vary.
3. Waltz with Bashir (2008)
Ari Folman’s animated documentary begins with a troubling gap in memory. Conversations with former comrades prompt him to investigate what he recalls—and cannot recall—about his military service during the 1982 Lebanon War. This is not animation as decorative reconstruction. It is a way to depict how memory, nightmare and testimony can overlap.
Folman explained through the film’s distributor that animation allowed him to pursue a journey through memories for which conventional footage could not simply provide an equivalent. The film’s images can become surreal, but that surrealism never makes the subject less serious. It makes the instability of recollection visible.
This is a difficult watch, and it should be. The story moves toward a historical atrocity rather than using war as an abstract setting for one man’s self-discovery. Adults considering the film should be prepared for disturbing material and for the questions it raises about witnessing, responsibility and what a person’s mind may refuse to hold clearly.
Why No. 3? Its use of animation is among the most purposeful in cinema, and its impact is profound. We place two films higher for the combination of formal achievement and the fullness of their personal perspectives, not because Waltz with Bashir is less important. It is a film to approach thoughtfully, not a casual pick to fill an evening.
Best for: Viewers interested in documentary, history and the relationship between memory and representation.
Content note: War, traumatic imagery and discussion of mass killing.
Where to watch: See Sony Pictures Classics’ official film information and check current UK viewing options.
2. Persepolis (2007)
Marjane Satrapi’s story begins with a young girl coming of age amid the Iranian Revolution and follows the personal costs of political change, exile and growing up. Co-directed by Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, Persepolis adapts her autobiographical graphic work without losing the directness of its visual voice.
Sony Pictures Classics describes the film’s autobiographical basis, but its power is not limited to being “an important history lesson.” Marjane is funny, difficult, observant and capable of disappointing herself. Family arguments, youthful certainty and moments of embarrassment matter alongside fear and political upheaval. That range makes her feel like a person rather than an illustration of events.
The predominantly black-and-white imagery gives memory a clarity that live action might not have found in the same way. It can move quickly between a child’s interpretation and an adult’s understanding of what was at stake. The film trusts viewers to hold both perspectives at once.
We rank it second because it combines historical seriousness with a personal, often sharply comic voice. It is an essential answer to anyone who assumes animation cannot carry political autobiography. More importantly, it is a film that never lets the sweep of history erase the particular person trying to live through it.
Best for: Autobiographical cinema, political coming-of-age stories and expressive hand-drawn animation.
Content note: Political repression, war, exile and family separation.
Where to watch: Check Sony Pictures Classics’ film page and current UK streaming or rental listings.
🎧 Before we reveal our No. 1 pick, you can also discover original romantic audio dramas from That Love Podcast. Listen here.
1. Anomalisa (2015)
Anomalisa is the most intimate film on this list and, for us, the most persuasive example of animation made for an adult inner life. Michael Stone is travelling for work when he meets Lisa, whose presence seems to interrupt the numbing sameness through which he experiences other people.
Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s stop-motion film does not use puppets to make the story cute. Their tangible faces and bodies give the hotel rooms, conversations and awkward silences an unsettling closeness. The ordinary details matter: a check-in, a phone call, a moment in which somebody hopes to be understood and does not quite know how to ask.
The film’s central perspective is deliberately uncomfortable. Michael’s loneliness is real, but that does not mean his way of seeing Lisa is fair to her. The story gives adult viewers room to question the difference between recognising another person and turning that person into an answer to your own dissatisfaction.
This is not a broad comedy or a film to watch when you want effortless comfort. Its humour is dry, sometimes painful, and inseparable from its study of isolation. It takes No. 1 because every formal choice serves that study. Stop-motion makes Michael’s estrangement visible while insisting that the people around him have physical presence beyond his perception of them.
Anomalisa demonstrates that an animated film can be small in scale and enormous in implication. You may leave it unsettled. You are unlikely to confuse it with anything else.
Best for: Adults who appreciate intimate, psychologically complex films.
Content note: Sexual content, loneliness and emotional distress.
Where to watch: Check current UK legal rental and streaming listings before planning a viewing.
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💡 You May Also Love
Which adult animated movie should you watch first?
If you want the easiest introduction to this list, choose Fantastic Mr. Fox or Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Both are inviting on the surface and richer when you bring adult experience to them. If you want a film that will challenge you, Persepolis, Flee and Waltz with Bashir deserve careful attention.
Our No. 1, Anomalisa, is the opposite of a spectacle-driven argument for animation. Its rooms are small, its conversations are awkward, and its visual method makes those ordinary spaces feel deeply strange. That is why it wins. It tells a story about perception and loneliness that would not carry the same force if its characters were simply played by live actors.
None of these films needs to prove that animation has “grown up.” The range is already here. The more useful question is which kind of story you are ready to watch tonight—and whether you will give it the attention it deserves.
Which film would you put at No. 1? We would love to hear your ranking.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best animated movie for adults?
Our pick is Anomalisa because its stop-motion form is essential to its intimate story about loneliness and perception. If you would rather begin with political autobiography, choose Persepolis. If you want something warmer and easier to watch, try Fantastic Mr. Fox or Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.
Does “animated movie for adults” mean the film is explicit?
Not necessarily. Some entries contain mature sexual or violent material, while others are suitable for a wider audience but have themes adults may appreciate most deeply. “For adults” describes our editorial recommendation, not a universal age rating. Check the specific content guidance for the film you choose.
Which movie here is most emotionally difficult?
Waltz with Bashir addresses war and historical atrocity; Flee recounts displacement and trauma; The Breadwinner follows a child under Taliban rule. Their difficulties are different and should not be treated as entertainment intensity to compare casually. Read the content notes and choose a moment when you can give the film proper attention.
Is Marcel the Shell with Shoes On fully animated?
No. It is a hybrid film combining an animated, stop-motion central character with live-action footage and a mock-documentary approach. We include it because the animated character and technique are fundamental to the movie’s story and emotional effect.
Which adult animated film is best for a date night?
If you both enjoy unusual, gentle films, try Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Fantastic Mr. Fox makes a witty and visually rich choice if you want something lighter. Anomalisa is a more challenging conversation starter and not an uncomplicated romantic film.
Is The Boy and the Heron on Netflix UK?
The Netflix UK title page checked for this article says it is not currently available to watch in the country. Rights may change, so verify a current UK legal listing rather than relying on availability in another region.
Which animated film should I watch if I liked Pinocchio?
Try Mary and Max for another emotionally rich stop-motion film, though it is very different in setting and story. The Boy and the Heron is a good choice if you want fantasy used to explore grief. Check content notes before choosing either for younger viewers.
Are Persepolis and Flee documentaries?
Flee is an animated documentary built around a real person’s account. Persepolis is an autobiographical animated feature adapted from Marjane Satrapi’s graphic memoir. Both draw on lived experience, but they use different storytelling forms.
Is Fantastic Mr. Fox only for children?
No. Younger viewers can enjoy the animals and adventure, while adults may recognise Mr. Fox’s restlessness and the strain his choices place on his family. It is one of the clearest examples here of a film that works for multiple ages without flattening its adult concerns.
Where can I stream these adult animated movies in the UK?
Rights vary widely, especially for independent and international releases. Netflix is the first service to check for its original titles, while older films may require rental, digital purchase or physical media. Use the official film links above and verify current UK availability before paying for access.
For more on the range of animated cinema, explore Rotten Tomatoes’ guide to essential animated movies.
More Places to Find Great Movies and TV Shows
If you are searching for more film recommendations, cast information and reviews, these sites are useful starting points:
Screen Rant — entertainment news and features.
CBR — animation, comics and pop-culture coverage.
Collider — reviews, interviews and viewing ideas.
IMDb — cast and production information.
Rotten Tomatoes — collected critic and audience responses.
MovieWeb — film and television features.
SlashFilm — reviews and entertainment reporting.
ComicBookMovie — superhero and pop-culture screen news.
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